


You Hold My Heart In Your Palm

by KierenRose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Tattoos, These are mostly for things I know will happen in future chapters, for a klance fic not many of these tags are actually about them, shiro has a service dog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-11 14:11:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12936963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KierenRose/pseuds/KierenRose
Summary: As midterms come to an end, Keith is excited for his final winter break to start. Although, he never thought that it would turn into a few of the most stressful weeks of his life.On his first night off of school, something he doesn't quite welcome appears in the palm of his hand.Aka, the soulmate tattoo au that no one asked for





	1. Chapter 1

“God, I’m so ready to sleep in tomorrow,” Keith groaned, poking at the depressing salad on his lunch tray. It was his senior year of high school, which, quite frankly, sucked ass. You get more homework than any other year, and Keith got even more than that due to his decision to take multiple AP classes. He kind of regrets it, even though it will bring up his GPA, it’s a lot of work; so much that he hardly ever has free time. Thank god he only had one more exam to take before it was winter break.

“Same here,” Pidge said. “I pulled an all-nighter to study for my history exam, but ended up falling asleep halfway through the test.” She huffed and rubbed her eyes.

Keith pushed his salad away from him. He wasn’t about to force himself to eat a soggy school-cafeteria salad just because he was so tired that he forgot to bring his lunch. Hunk and Lance had really lucked out today; their gym teacher was throwing a pizza party since she was switching schools after the break.

“Not the best idea you’ve ever had, huh?” Keith laughed a little and leaned back in his chair.

“Definitely not, I drank so much coffee and didn’t think about how bad the crash would be.” Pidge saw that Keith wasn’t eating, so she pulled a pack of fruit snacks out of her lunch bag and gave it to him.

He thanked her and opened up the pack. “You’re still hanging out tonight, right? Or are you too tired?”

Pidge lit up. “Oh yeah, I am! Granted, I might fall asleep if we watch any movies, but if we plan it so we do that last then I should be fine. Shiro’s fine with me staying the night, right?”

“Probably. You sleepover all the time.”

“Cool cool!” She did finger guns at him.

Keith felt like a piece of his soul was ripped from his body. “Please don’t. Lance does that often enough.”

“At least I don’t dab,” Pidge argued.

“Fair point.”

 

 

“Alright, everyone! Who’s ready to play some Just Dance!” Yelled Lance, triumphantly holding up a Wii remote. In that moment, Keith regretted inviting all of his friends over to his house after school. Lance was too loud, and Keith was too tired. But at least Pidge seemed to have woken up some more, either that or the sleep deprivation had driven her to insanity. Pidge and Hunk both grabbed their remotes. “You better get ready to get your asses kicked, this game was my favorite thing growing up."

“Keith, you’re not playing?” Hunk asked with a smile on his face, obviously excited to play.

“Nah, I’ll leave it to you guys. Exams kicked my butt enough.” To be honest, Keith was in the mood to just watch the X-files until he passed out.

Hunk shrugged. “Understandable.”

“You have to!” Lance chimed in, almost too enthusiastically. “This is Halloween has four players!”

“Why are you doing that song?" Keith huffed. "Christmas is like, next week.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Because Halloween is the superior holiday.” He paused. “Plus the Nightmare Before Christmas is both a Halloween and Christmas movie, so you can’t tell me it’s irrelevant.” Pidge looked like she was about to hurl a remote at Keith’s head, but she ended up tossing it on the couch next to him. Hunk seemed to be the only one who accepted that he didn’t want to play.

After another minute of whining from Lance, Keith stood up with a groan and put the safety strap on his wrist. He had learned that it’s especially important to use when playing Just Dance; he could recall multiple occasions when he was younger where the remote flew directly into Shiro’s face. “Just so you know, Lance, I hold the high score on every song here.” Keith smiled.

“Well, it’s your Wii, so yeah, but once I’m done all the high scores will be mine!”

“Bring it on.”

Lance and Keith were always really competitive with each other, but this was some next-level shit. They kept dancing and dancing, Lance would win one, Keith would win one- and at one point Lance called Keith a cheater just because he’d stopped dancing with his legs for a while. After only a few songs, Pidge and Hunk had given up and started playing the Sims on Pidge’s laptop.

By the time they'd done a quarter of the songs, Keith and Lance were both really sweaty and worn out, Lance seemingly in the lead by one more high score. “I win,” Lance said proudly.

“I would have won if I wasn’t as tired,” Keith laughed.

“Whatever you need to say to make yourself feel better.”

Keys jangled on the other side of the apartment door, and in came a very cold-looking Shiro struggling to hold his keys, a dog leash, and two large pizzas. Shiro’s nose and cheeks were all red, and there was some snow in his hair that hadn't quite melted yet. The gray australian shepherd at his side bounded in the door and sat down, waiting to be let off the leash. The dog wagged its tail happily upon seeing everyone, and Shiro spoke, “Hey, guys! I figured you’d want some pizza, so I got one cheese and one pepperoni.” He set the pizzas down on the coffee table, which was sort of pushed in front of the door to make more room for the dancing.

Pidge audibly gasped at the sight of the pizzas. “Thanks, Shiro!” She grabbed the boxes and immediately and took off toward the kitchen. A second later she popped her head out of the door frame. “Can I sleep over? I’m probably going to pass out after I eat.”

“Of course you can, Katie.” Shiro chuckled, taking off his puffy black coat. 

Kieth bent down to turn off the wii. “How was your date with Allura?” he asked.

“It was good.” Shiro unclipped the leash from the dog’s collar and gave her the okay that she was allowed to leave his side. She immediately headed over to Hunk, happy as ever. “We just walked around the park for a while and got some coffee.” The look of pure love on Shiro’s face whenever Allura was mentioned made Keith a little bit sick. He was happy for his brother of course, but it seemed too perfect. The whole concept of finding your soulmate seemed too perfect. He may believe in cryptids, but soulmates were a whole nother thing. Like he’s supposed to believe there’s one person out there that he’s destined to be with...

“Sounds nice,” Keith said with a nod. “Did anyone try to mess with Kuroo?” He gestured to the dog which had now found her way next to Hunk on the couch. Lance had already disappeared into the kitchen for some pizza, too, but Hunk seemed to be staying put to pet the dog.

“She got some looks in the coffee shop but that was it. There’s no one walking around in this weather, so everything else was fine.” Shiro took off his shoes as he talked, and ran a hand through his hair to shake off the snow.

Kuroo was Shiro’s service dog. After he’d gotten back from overseas, he had some pretty bad PTSD- the man had lost his arm in a war for Christ’s sake. After waiting a year for all of her training, Shiro was able to get Kuroo to help him with his mental health. The gentle giant of a dog helped to warn Shiro when a flashback was about to happen or his anxiety levels were getting too high so that he could ground himself. Honestly, she really seemed to be aiding in his recovery. As for the moment though, she was off duty, so she immediately headed to the source that would give her the most attention, Hunk. He was her favorite out of their friend group, which was rather surprising since Keith was the one living with her.

Hunk laughed as Kuroo tried to lick his face. He luckily blocked it with his hand. “Stop that-! It hasn’t been that long since you've seen me-” Kuroo settled for licking his arm before she bounded off to the kitchen in case anyone dropped some food. With a quiet laugh and shake of his head, Hunk set Pidge’s laptop aside and followed the fluffy dog.

They all got their pizza, and Shiro was glad that he’d bought enough for each of them to have three pieces. Anything less than three pieces was just depressing to anyone eating pizza. They all sat in the living room and watched an episode of Parks and Recreation while they ate. Since the couch wasn’t big enough, Lance and Hunk chose to grab some pillows and sit on the floor. Which was, in fact, one of the reasons why Keith hadn’t invited all of his friends over at once before. The apartment was a bit too small to hold five people and a dog.

 

It was already getting late by the time everyone finished eating. Time sure does fly when you’ve been playing Just Dance 3. Shiro had already retired to his room with Kuroo, presumably to watch RIP Vine compilations on his phone, and Pidge had completely passed out like she said she would. Hunk and Lance soon decided to start heading home before their parents got worried.

“Alright, see you later,” Keith said as the two walked toward the door. It wasn’t a big deal saying bye to them, they’d probably just start blowing up their group chat once they got home anyway; their group was full of night owls. But before he exited the apartment, Lance turned around and dabbed at Keith. Keith flipped him off in response before the door closed behind him. 

Keith locked up the front door and fetched a blanket for Pidge before retreating to his room as well. With a tired sigh, he flicked on the light switch and the room lit up. His room was, quite honestly, a mess. He had some empty soda bottles here and there, and a growing pile of dirty laundry in the corner that he still needed to take care of. Posters of highly varying subjects scattered the walls, along with some fairy lights he’d hung up to make his room look kind of okay.

He flopped down onto his disorderly bed and pulled out his phone to try fitting in an X-files episode before he fell asleep. His mind sort of drifted off fifteen minutes in since he was getting sleepy, and he started thinking about soulmates again.

Unlike most people, Keith didn’t get a tattoo right when he turned eighteen to help him find his soulmate. Supposedly, when you get a tattoo, it will appear on your soulmate. The same picture, in the same spot. The only downside to that, however, is that if your soulmate gets one before you- you feel the pain of the needle in your skin while they're being tattooed. And then there’s always the chance that your soulmate gets a tattoo that you hate, which would not be ideal.

Keith didn’t like the idea that he could have a soulmate. He did think it might be nice at first, but since then, he’d seen too many times where soulmates got so involved in their own perfect world that they ignored everyone else. And there were other instances where someone loses their soulmate in some tragic accident, and the grief completely destroys them from the inside out. It did not look like fun at all. So, Keith liked to pretend that soulmates didn’t exist.

His brother, Shiro, however, was eager about finding his soulmate. Although, he waited until he got his first tattoo for his own reasons. Shiro totally could have gotten one the moment he turned eighteen, but since he wanted to go into the military he decided to wait. Keith recalled Shiro saying that he would rather not have his soulmate worry about whether he was going to come back alive or not.

It took two years after Shiro returned home for him to get his tattoo since he’d wanted to be in a well-enough mental state to be able to handle a relationship. He ended up getting the tattoo only four months ago: a tiny star right above where his arm was amputated. And it only took him two weeks to find her.

Shiro just went into a coffee shop one day and accidentally bumped into Allura, knocking the hot coffee out of her hands and onto the floor. He apologized like crazy and offered to buy her a new one when he spotted the simplistic star on her shoulder. They ended up helping mop up the spill before getting new coffee and sitting down to talk at one of the tables. It definitely was not the most romantic first meeting, but he found her nonetheless.

Keith missed about five minutes of the episode since he’d zoned out. He huffed and set his phone on the bedside table, being too exhausted to rewind the episode and wait for it to load again. Keith stood up and turned the light back off. It was inconvenient how the switch was on the other side of the room, but it couldn’t be changed unless they did some major rewiring in their apartment. He crawled back into his bed, pulling his red, plaid blanket over himself and closing his eyes.

“WHAT THE F-” After a few minutes, when he was almost asleep, Keith jolted upright to a very bad piercing pain in the center of his palm. Out of reflex, he grabbed his hand and pushed himself off the bed to turn the lights back on. He squinted since it was so bright, but once his eyes adjusted he let go of his now shaky hand and looked at his palm.

Slowly but surely- in the middle of his hand- a black line had started to form.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this isn't too bad! I've gone back and edited it multiple times, so let me know if you find any more errors.
> 
> Sorry there's no klance in this chapter but I promise there will be some in the next one!
> 
> Comments are highly appreciated ^^
> 
> Edit: Changed a few sentences to make them less confusing (Thanks to my sister for pointing them out :P)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to post this on Thursday, but I got too excited. I hope you guys enjoy!

Keith stared at the line with wide eyes before rushing to the bathroom and shoving his hand under the sink. He tried his hardest to scrub it off, wincing in the process when he touched it wrong, but the line just kept growing. He wished like hell that it wasn’t what he thought it was, but of course, Keith didn’t have that kind of luck.

His soulmate had decided to get a tattoo in the middle of the night. Maybe it meant his soulmate was in a different timezone? Keith hoped so. He didn’t want a soulmate in the first place, so the farther away they were the better.

Also, what a dumb place to get a first tattoo. Your hands are one of the most pain-sensitive parts of your body since there’s not any fat. So naturally, Keith felt like he was going to faint from the pain alone. He stared down at the line as it started to curve and take shape. Then, he went to go get an ice pack to help numb the pulsing pain.

He’d considered waking up Shiro since he knew all about soulmates, but Keith went to the living room and flicked on the lights instead. “Pidge, get up-”

She groaned and pulled the blanket over her head to block out the light, “Pidge is sleeping right now, please leave a message after the beep.” She never made a beeping noise.

“Pidge, c’mon-” He yanked at the blanket with his free hand until she sat up. “Look!” He set the ice pack down and held out his hand.

“I’m blind, give me a second.” She yawned before plucking her glasses off the table and putting them on. “WOAH!” Pidge exclaimed, seeming to go right from tired to sleep-deprived insanity again. She grabbed his hand and held it close to her face as she inspected the mark. “Your soulmate is trying to find you! That’s so cool!” She grinned and let go of his hand. “What do you think the tattoo will be once it’s done?”

“I don’t know, but it hurts like hell,” Keith said, too tired and lightheaded for how upset he was to actually show. “Who the fuck gets a palm tattoo, anyway?” Keith rubbed his hand before he pressed the ice pack to it again and plopped down on the couch next to his friend. He sighed and shook his head. “I’m not going to be able to sleep with this.”

“Hey, at least you’ll probably sleep in past noon tomorrow.” Pidge giggled. Keith rolled his eyes and a small smile spread across his face.

The two stayed up for a while, discussing cryptids and other things until the image was complete. His hand had stopped hurting, but Keith didn’t want to look at the tattoo. He hoped to god that it wasn’t a dumb one as he removed the ice pack and showed Pidge for a first opinion. “Is it bad?” he asked, nervously tapping his foot on the ground.

“Aw, it’s cute,” Pidge said. “Well, at least I think it is. It’s pretty cheesy, so it might be bad in your opinion-”

Keith flipped his hand around, seeing that there was the simple outline of a heart in the middle of his palm. The art style made it look like it was painted on.

Alright. It could be worse. At least now he knew one thing about his soulmate: they were definitely a romantic.

“It’s not… too bad. I guess.” Keith couldn’t take his eyes off the little heart. It hadn’t even been an hour and he was already missing the blank space in the center of his palm. But he couldn’t do anything about it now- not even makeup would be able to cover it up.

His heart raced due to the anxiety the whole ordeal was causing him.

“You okay?” Pidge asked. He must have been staring at it for too long.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Keith clenched his fist and stood up. “I’m gonna to go to bed.” He took in a deep breath. How was he going to hide this thing?

“Alright, goodnight and good luck finding your soulmate!” she said, curling back up in the blanket Keith had brought out for her.

Keith’s heart sank. He’d never told her about his opinion on soulmates since it was so normal for you to want to find them.

Pidge was honestly like a little sister to Keith, which is part of why he felt guilty. The two had met because Shiro was best friends with her brother, Matt, when they were in high school. One day Matt brought Pidge over with him since he was babysitting her, and the two had been friends for the eight long years since then. Sure, Pidge was three years younger than him, but they’d been with each other through just about everything. They were there for small things, like art shows and each other's bad days. And they were there for big things, like when Shiro, Matt, and Pidge’s dad went off to fight in a war, and when only one of the three returned.

That’s part of the reason why she always slept over, she hardly had anyone for her back home since her mom was always working.

“Thanks.” He put on a false, but convincing, smile. “‘Night, Pidge.” Keith ruffled her hair a little before flicking off the lights and returning to his bed. He lied there with a twisted stomach until sleep overcame him.

 

When Keith opened his eyes, he saw, to his disappointment, that the tattoo was still there. Part of him had hoped it was just a dream.

Keith got up and went through his morning routine as usual, even though he did, in fact, sleep until two in the afternoon. He said good morning to Shiro and Pidge, who were hanging out in the living room on their respective electronic devices. Kuroo was lying on the floor by Shiro’s feet, and Keith gave her a little pat before going off to take a shower. 

He went back to his room to get dressed, putting on a pair of black skinny jeans and a graphic tee with mothman on the front. Keith was still struggling to find a way to hide the tattoo. You see, he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted Shiro to know- he'd probably just make a bigger deal out of it than it needed to be. And he definitely didn’t want his other friends to know. 

Then Keith had an idea. He started digging through drawers and scouring the shelves until he found them: a pair of fingerless, leather gloves. He had impulse bought them on one of his many trips to Hot Topic, since he thought they looked cool. Although, he’d never worn them. Now, he put them on. Sure, they weren’t the most inconspicuous things ever, but he would be able to come up with an excuse so they wouldn’t find out about the tattoo. With a small sigh of relief, Keith sat down on his bed and decided to check his phone for the first time that morning.

( 14 ) Missed Messages  
Groupchat: Just Dance Squad

11:31 AM Lancelot: Guys! We have to meet up !!!

11:34 AM Pidgey: we??

11:34 AM Pidgey: H ung out yesterday??

11:34 AM Honk: i agree you guys need to see this

11:35 AM Honk: we’ve got things! to show you!

11:35 AM Lancelot: Y e s !!!

11:35 AM Pidgey: Lance what did you do this time?

11:36 AM Lancelot: It’s a secret ;)

11:36 AM Honk: you’ll see later!

11:36 AM Lancelot: Meet at Starbucks at 3?

11:36 AM Pidgey: Keith isn’t up yet

11:37 AM Lancelot: What a downer

11:37 AM Pidgey: He’ll probs be up by then tho

11:37 AM Lancelot: Cool cool 3 it is

 

Keith glanced at the time on the corner of his phone screen. It was already 2:45. He was pretty socially drained from yesterday, so he didn’t quite want to hang out again just yet. Keith just wanted some alone-time to manage the stress from the tattoo. But since it already seemed to be decided, he had to go anyway. At least having a coffee might help him be a little more energized.

He walked back into the living room where Shiro was putting his winter coat on over his pajamas; Shiro was always lounging around in his pajamas whenever he was home. “So I’m taking you guys to Starbucks?” Shiro said. 

“Apparently?” Keith glanced at Pidge, who was already set to go, green parka and all. “You don’t have to though, I can drive.” Keith huffed as he grabbed his combat boots and sat on the couch to put them on.

“I know.” 

“Is it because you don’t trust me with Pidge in the car?” 

“It’s because I don’t trust you with Pidge in the car. Plus, I haven’t had my coffee yet today.” He bent down to the dog who was patiently sitting next to him and attached the leash.

“I’m not that bad of a driver,” Keith muttered under his breath as he stood. Okay, maybe he’d bumped into someone’s bumper before, but it wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. Keith snagged his red hoodie off its coat hanger and slid it on. Even though it was really cold out, he was determined he could survive with only a hoodie. 

 

Before he left the four teens to their own devices, Shiro bought everyone drinks and made sure Hunk was going to give Keith and Pidge a ride. Shiro was taking a vacation from work this week, so he wanted to go home and make the most of it. Which to him meant sitting around and catching up on all the Netflix shows he hadn’t had the time for.

They all gathered around one of the tables, and everyone except for Keith took off their jacket. Hunk was wearing a yellow sweater with a chickadee on the front, Pidge had on a white shirt with one of those cats that flipped you off in the pocket, and Lance wore a star wars shirt with some dark-blue gloves to protect his hands from the cold. Or for the moment, the heat of his coffee cup.

“So what’s the surprise?” Pidge said, sipping her hot chocolate. After the previous two nights, she’d decided having more coffee wouldn’t be a great idea.

Lance grinned and he and Hunk shared a look.

“I’ll go first,” said Hunk, rolling up the sleeve of his sweater to slowly reveal a plastic wrapped section of his arm. On his forearm, just below the joint of his elbow, was a small multi-color tattoo of a crystal. “Got it last night!”

“Oh, wow! I really love the colors you chose-” Pidge said enthusiastically. This was the second time in 24 hours that she’d seen one of her friends with a soulmate tattoo, and she was extremely happy for the both of them. 

“It really suits you.” Keith chipped in with a smile. “But isn’t your birthday next month?” He was slightly confused since Hunk was still only seventeen.

“Yeah, but my mom gave me permission to get one as an early Christmas present.” Hunk grinned and looked down at the mark fondly. “I’ve already posted it on the forums since I’m so excited.”

That was a thing you could do. If you don’t really want to wait to find your soulmate “naturally,” as in by a chance meeting, you can post a picture of your tattoo on the soulmate forums. Then you can see if anyone else posts the same tattoo, so you can find each other faster.

“Wait- Hunk said he’d go first so, Lance, does that mean you got one, too?” Pidge questioned, grinning wide.

“Heck yeah, it does!” Lance set his coffee on the table and removed the glove from his left hand.

In that moment, Keith wished for nothing more than to disappear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Still sorry for no Klance but there will be plenty of angst in the next chapter)
> 
> Probably going to post the next chapter sometime next week, but I have exams so I might not have time to finish it by then.
> 
> Comments are highly appreciated!


End file.
